Radu of Afumați became voivode of Wallachia despite the fact that the Ottoman sultan had supported Mehmed-Bey, the Pasha of Nikopol - a Romanian renegade converted to Islam, for the crown.

He took the throne and his first voivode charter was emitted in February 1522 at Târgoviște at was of the confirmation of the ownership of the Romanian Orthodox church over the Drăgotești estate.

The fight to defend his country's independence continued in the next months, when new victories were recorded at Ștefeni [ro] on Neajlov River (on Bucharest–Giurgiu Road), Clejani (both in February) and also at Ciocănești and Snagov (in March 1522) In April 1522, Radu was forced to flee to Transylvania, where he had received the estates Vurpăr and Vințu de Jos from King Louis II of Hungary as a reward for fighting the Ottomans.

He crossed back the Carpathians in June and, with armed support from the Transylvanian Voivode John Zápolya, reconquered the Wallachian throne.

In the summer of 1526 the Mohács disaster occurred and the Kingdom of Hungary collapsed, and its central part was occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

At the end of 1528, a group of noblemen led by Neagoe and Drăgan rose against Radu, who fled west, seeking refuge under the protection of the Craiovești family.

[3] The two heads were sent to the Ottoman Sultan's court in Constantinople, whilst the Prince's body was buried on 4 January at Curtea de Argeș Cathedral.